


printer (and heart) go brrrr

by dontrollthedice



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (one anxiety attack), Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety Attacks, Flash Freeze, Fluff, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, aka opposite of Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 10:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27968906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontrollthedice/pseuds/dontrollthedice
Summary: Distant footsteps got closer and closer, but the edges of his vision were too blurry to make out what it was. All he knew was the printer was making printing noises like it was supposed to, why the fuck wasn’t it making printing noises?“Hey, hey, hey,” came a soft voice. Then came an even softer touch on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”“Stupid Chad printer’s flexing on me.”--Or, the one where Tapl meets a date with the help of bastard energy drinks, a bastard friend, and an especially bastard printer.
Relationships: George | Spifey/Harvey | TapL
Comments: 44
Kudos: 153





	printer (and heart) go brrrr

**Author's Note:**

> basically the "you’re the only other person in the room when I break the printer and I’m panicking" au nobody asked for but i provide

It was three in the morning after he had already downed four cans of energy drinks, but reality wouldn't stop Tapl from reaching through this computer screen and fist-fighting God itself. At least, that was how he felt staring blankly at the last page of his essay, struggling to conclude hours and hours of work.

Goodness, how long had he been in the student resource center anyway? It was seven in the morning now. He remembered seeing the sun come up when he had decided he couldn't ask for an extension, then everything was blurry after that…

Damn energy drinks.

Tapl tossed his last energy drink in the trash can, his gaze drifting to the man a couple rows behind him for a moment.

Students had filtered in and out of the facility, but the man eternally frowning at a computer screen and occasionally phasing in and out of consciousness remained a constant. If he felt particularly energetic, he might've shifted his glasses or brushed that fluffy hair of his out of the way.

Now here they were, half the lights in the student resource center off and the rest of the room empty. And honestly, Tapl felt they had a sort of kinship already. Stress was one hell of a thing to bond over.

Ugh, fuck, his class was in less than an hour. He needed to get this done.

Tapl bit his lip as he read over the previous paragraph of his essay. What was this essay about again?

Fuck it. Tapl wrote a couple sentences rehashing his thesis and called it a conclusion. After adding more lines to format the references page correctly, he clicked on the print button. It would probably take some time for all twenty-three pages of this essay to print.  _ Twenty-three pages _ plus the references page _. _ God.

Tapl stood up from his seat, immediately stumbling when his vision crinkled with static.

Ah, body. What a dumb bitch.

When the static cleared, Tapl walked over to the printer.

His heart dropped.

It wasn’t printing. Why wasn’t it printing?

Tapl looked at the screen of the printer. It said it was printing. Why wasn’t it printing? It should’ve been printing by now. What the hell? This was the only printer in this building. There was no time—

Tapl’s hands flew up to his head as panic seized him. This was not happening right now. This printer was not jammed, he refused to believe it. But before he knew it his breathing had quickened, his heart pounded, every inch of his body felt as if it had been set on fire. And he’d rather it be set on fire if it meant he didn’t have to— oh, crust, there were tears running down his face and he was gasping for air. His lungs burned just like his grade in this fucking class.

Distant footsteps got closer and closer, but the edges of his vision were too blurry to make out what it was. All he knew was the printer was making printing noises like it was supposed to, why the fuck wasn’t it making printing noises?

“Hey, hey, hey,” came a soft voice. Then came an even softer touch on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Stupid Chad printer’s flexing on me” was the only thing Tapl could get out before panicked sobs wracked his body, and he felt his knees buckle under him.

“Oh, the printer.” The hand on his shoulder moved away. A pair of hands pressed at some panels on the printer, then a finger tapped at some of the buttons next to the screen. A couple seconds later, pages started printing.

Tapl sniffed and wiped his eyes, his vision clearing up long enough for him to see the man from before taking a final step away from the printer and back towards him. “W-What the fuck?”

“Yeah, the printer here’s known for being a bitch. There’s a trick to it to get it to unjam, but you only learn it the hard way. We should be good now.” The man paused. “You look like you’ve had a rough night. Do you want a hug?”

What the fuck. Why was this person so kind? Was he even real?

“I haven’t slept in three days,” Tapl croaked out before collapsing into the stranger’s arms.

Was this a stranger anymore? He didn’t think so. Strangers generally didn’t do that.

“Am I dead yet?” Tapl mumbled, his words muffled by the fabric of the man’s sweater. He looked up, only to see an angelic smile gazing down at him with the most caring eyes in the world. “Are you an angel? Do you know God? Where can I schedule an appointment to fight it?”

The stranger laughed. “No, you’re not dead. And I’m just the printer guy, not really an angel. Thank you, though.”

Tapl let himself rest in Printer Guy’s arms, knowing he’d regret this later but also not giving a fuck anymore. College had drained away all the fucks he usually would’ve given.

The printer whirred in the background like the bastard it was.

* * *

“So you just yelled out a thanks and ran away?”

“So I just yelled out a thanks and ran away.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I know!”

Skeppy only giggled at him while Tapl sank into his bed.

It was a day after that assignment had been due. Tapl had woken up just a couple hours ago to his dormmate walking in with two bags of food from their town’s Chipotle. After badgering him into sharing and finding out that he had slept for an entire day, Tapl recalled the events of yesterday. And now he kind of never wanted to step out of his room ever again.

Really? Crying in a library was one thing; crying into a stranger’s arms and calling him an angel was completely different.

Fuck, Printer Guy probably thought he was a jerk. He needed to make things right, but there were too many damn students on this campus. There was an almost zero percent chance of finding him again.

“Dude, I messed up so hard,” Tapl grumbled, holding his head. “Printer Guy was literally the nicest guy I’ve ever met.”

Skeppy scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Wow, okay. Tell that to the guy who just shared with you.”

“Stop bitching, I paid you back.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Skeppy said. He leaned against his mattress and pulled his phone out, his thumbs tapping away at the screen.

Tapl opened his mouth to mock him for what he was certain was poor spelling, only for his thoughts to wander back in Printer Guy’s direction. His face reddened, and another pang of embarrassment hit him. “Oh my god, I need to pay back Printer Guy. He literally saved my life, and all I did was ruin his sweater.”

“What color was it?” Skeppy asked.

“Uh, brown, I think? I don’t know, it’s kind of hard to see when you’re crying.”

Thinking back on it now, it was almost certainly brown and made of the softest material he had ever felt. But maybe that was just because Printer Guy was supernaturally good at giving hugs. Tapl had felt he could fall asleep at any moment in his arms. And Printer Guy had gazed down at him with the gentlest eyes, as if he were willing to wait not just for him but for the entire world…

Wait, he wasn’t romanticizing a stranger, was he? Just because Printer Guy had an unfairly pretty smile and calming voice didn’t mean—

Oh, fuck.

“Harvey? Your face is looking awfully red there.”

Tapl didn’t respond.

Damn it. Printer Guy had helped him print his assignment, but now his brain was jammed from all these stupid emotions he really shouldn’t be feeling.

Skeppy only giggled to himself and continued texting away. Little shit.

Tapl pulled his blankets over his head, wishing he could sleep the world away.

* * *

Skeppy dragging him out to weird places in the city was nothing new, but Tapl wished he would’ve given him more than a couple minutes of heads up.

And the asshole wasn’t even here. Tapl had been waiting inside this cafe for five minutes, and there hadn’t been a single hint of Skeppy in the crowd. He could’ve gotten so much sleep after his morning class if…

Tapl's glance latched onto a familiar person walking into the store.

If…

Holy shit.

"Mind if I take a seat here?" Printer Guy asked, his smile as radiant as ever.

Tapl's heart stopped, and for a moment he forgot how to breathe.

"... Oh, did you not hear—"

"Dude! You're Printer Guy!"

And immediately, Tapl regretted the volume of his voice and slapped a hand over his mouth.

But Printer Guy only chuckled, uncaring of the patrons who had turned to glance at them. "And you're Angel Guy!" he said with a laugh punctuating his sentence.

Angel… Angel Guy?

Tapl's face reddened. "Wait, that's what you've been calling me?"

"I mean, between that and Stupid Chad Printer, it seemed better."

"Oh. Right. Man, your name for me is so much nicer than mine. I feel bad now." Then he remembered, and all the embarrassment came rushing back. "Oh, wait, dude, I was just about to get a drink. Let me buy you one, too. It’s the least I could do for disturbing your day."

Printer Guy shook his head. "No need for that. You didn't disrupt anything."

"I literally ruined your sweater."

"The coffee my friend spilled on me the next day did more damage to my sweater than you did. Don't worry about it."

"... I'm still gonna pay for your drink. Now, tell me what you want or you're gonna get something random and probably horrible.”

Printer Guy met his challenging stare for a moment before his face reddened the slightest bit and he turned away. “Dark roast.”

Tapl nodded and stood up to order with what he was certain was the dopiest smile on his face.

* * *

As it turned out, Printer Guy’s name wasn’t actually Printer Guy. He went by many names, actually: Spifey, George, Geo. Tapl wouldn’t help but feel all three suited him perfectly.

On top of that, he was a film production major just like Tapl, but he was a year above him. That explained why Tapl never saw him in any classes.

“How’d your essay turn out anyway?” Spifey asked. “I watched you work on that for, like, nine straight hours.”

“I don’t know, actually. My professor hasn’t graded it yet.” Then he paused, thinking. “Actually, what were  _ you _ working on? You were there longer than me and were, like, phasing in and out of existence.”

Spifey laughed at that, and pride swelled in Tapl’s chest. “Hell if I know. I went in with a cup of coffee, stayed for twelve hours, then left without my sanity.” He paused when a barista called Tapl’s name. “Oh, those are our drinks. I’ll get them.”

Before Tapl could protest, Spifey stood up and walked to the counter.

Tapl glanced down at the table, holding a hand to his burning face.

He needed to get it together. Spifey was just a normal person, and this was just a stupid temporary crush. He would get over it soon.

But Spifey had no reason to stay after they got their drinks, and he didn’t want this conversation to end. Ugh, maybe he should’ve spent longer arguing about paying.

Spifey dropped off Tapl’s drink in front of him before taking his seat across from him. He set down a bunch of sugar packets, cream containers, wooden stirrers, and napkins on the middle of the table.

He stayed. Holy shit, he stayed.

Tapl nodded as thanks, not quite trusting himself to speak. He ripped open a packet of sugar and poured it into his drink. When he looked up, Spifey had opened a container of cream and—

What? He just… 

Tapl’s gaze moved between the container and Spifey before settling on a now laughing Spifey. “Did you just drink that coffee creamer? Like, all of it?”

Spifey answered by chasing it down with a gulp of coffee, then looked expectantly at Tapl for a reaction. And reaction, he would get, because that was possibly the most cursed thing he had seen this month.

What the fuck? What the actual fuck?

Well, now he was intrigued.

“That’s… That’s not how you’re supposed to do it,” Tapl said. He ripped open a container of creamer and poured it down his drink, stirring with a wooden stirrer. “Look how I’m doing it, see?”

“What? It tasted amazing. In fact, I think I’ll do it again.”

Tapl could only watch helplessly as Spifey downed a sugar packet and chased it with a sip of coffee, wondering how the hell he had gotten into this situation.

* * *

“I can’t believe I trusted you.”

“I can’t believe you trusted me either.”

Tapl scrunched his face and chugged his coffee, waiting for the taste of creamer to burn off his tongue as Spifey died laughing. “Holy crust, how did you drink this with a straight face? What’s wrong with you? Did you stay here just to pull that on me?”

Spifey’s laughter faded away, but a warm grin remained. “No, no. I only thought of it as soon as I got the drink. My friend Zak told me he’d buy me a free drink if I came here but I think this conversation with you was well worth him never showing up. Have you fought God yet? You spoke a lot about that.”

Tapl’s heart jumped at that, but there was something wrong with that sentence. “Wait, Zak?”

“Um… yeah?”

“Zak as in about my height, black hair, always wears the same ratty blue hoodie.”

Spifey opened his mouth to answer, but it fell shut. His eyebrows furrowed. “... Huh. It’s the same Zak.”

Oh. Oh no. That bastard.

That was who he had been texting when Tapl freaked out to him about all this, huh? He had known literally everything for at least a week now and stayed quiet. When was Skeppy capable of being quiet? When was that a thing?

But admittedly, he was smart, almost intimidatingly so. Their meeting must’ve been no accident if Skeppy was behind it.

“... He set us up, didn’t he?” Tapl said quietly.

They fell silent. But when their eyes met, the two burst out laughing.

Tapl was okay with this. And Spifey must’ve been, too, because he leaned in closer and said, “I never knew Zak had cute friends. What do you like to do outside of class?”

* * *

“So how was your night?” Skeppy asked, not bothering to glance up from his phone when Tapl walked into their dorm.

“You fucking clown."

“So it went well?”

Tapl giggled and nodded, his heart doing happy flips in his chest as his hand hovered over a ghost of a kiss on his cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> printer go brrrr  
> obvs not my best work, hope you enjoyed nonetheless!


End file.
